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LaTeX to HTML Converters

I’ve been using LaTeX for many years, I should say quickly for the freaks out there that it doesn’t mean I’m into vinyl or other strangeness. LaTeX is a document processing system that creates good quality documents
from text source, no hamsters or chains involved at all.

The standard processors you get with LaTeX are good at converting the source into Postscript or PDF (Acrobat) documents and for most of the time this will do. However there are occasions when you want to have your document output in HTML. In this case you need to have a different processor.

This page is about the various types of LaTeX to HTML converters out there. It is not an exhaustive list but should help other people looking around for converters. The main problem with them all is they are not
maintained that well.

Hyperlatex is the converter I have used the most. It does most jobs quite well and you get reasonable results from it. My major gripes with it is that it is written in Lisp so I cannot extend it (I don’t know Lisp) and that it doesn’t do CSS that well.

Despite those shortcomings, Hyperlatex is a good start for document conversion. Unlike most program on this page, it is actively maintained and keeps up with HTML standards. For example there is work for
Hyperlatex output to be in XHTML.

TTH has put a lot of effort into the formula conversion. Most converters make an image for the formulas while TTH generates HTML for it, giving the formulas a more consistent look in the document rather than looking like they were “pasted in” later.

TTH has a funny license in that (roughly) it is free for non-commercial use only. Depending on where you are going to use it, this may be a problem. You can buy a commercial license of TTF too.

This converter takes LaTeX as an input and instead of having an output file format of DVI makes it XML. It is written in Perl and was developed with a particular focus on the mathematical equations. To get HTML you use a post-processor.